Martin Short Opens Up About Daughter Katherine's Suicide: 'Nightmare for the Family'

Martin Short is opening up in a new interview for the first time about the tragic loss of his daughter Katherine to suicide.

Short told CBS in the new sit-down that the 42-year-old social worker's death three months ago has been "a nightmare for the family."

He shed new light on his daughter's mental state prior to her death, drawing a parallel to his wife's death from cancer.

"[Poor m]ental health and cancer, like my wife's, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal," Short said. "And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things, and did the best she couldn't until she couldn't."

Short has had more than his fair share of tragedy, with his wife of 30 years — comic actress and singer Nancy Dolman — succumbing to cancer at 58 in 2010. An older brother died in a car wreck when Martin was a kid, and both his parents died before he was out of his teens.

Though the dream house he had shared with Nancy survived the Pacific Palisades fire last year, his son's was wiped out.

Speaking of the fire, Short told CBS, "And I must say, when I was getting in the car that day and I was thinking, 'Okay. I'm 75. Why am I continuing? Like, really why? I'm not gonna crash my car, but why? What is the point of this?' And then I got to Newport, and these two grandsons, five and four, just jump, 'Papa! Let's play giant!' And suddenly you go, 'Oh, that's why. That's why. Okay.'"

The revealing interview arrives just as Ron Howard's documentary on the legendary actor, "Marty: Life Is Short," is released.

The film focuses on Short's capacity to be happy and continue on in the face of adversity.

In the film, when Howard asks him about loss, Short replies, "What it developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief and a perspective on it."

Short also credits his struggles with making him feel the confidence to become a performer, saying, "I think if you've gone through that, an audience not liking you is really not that important anymore."

Watch the extended interview with Short here.